The word 直视 is formed through the common Chinese morphological process of compounding, where two independent characters, each with their own meaning, are combined to create a new, specific meaning. The first character 直 (zhí) means "straight" or "direct," and the second character 视 (shì) means "to look" or "to see." When combined in this modifier-verb structure, they form a verb meaning "to look directly (at something)" or "to gaze straight ahead," conveying a sense of frank, unwavering, or front-facing vision, both literally and metaphorically.